Automobile-jack.



A. PEI'EIER.

AUTOMOBILE JACK.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. I8. I9I5.

Patented Oct. 26, 1915.

SHEETS-*SHEET I.

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A. PETELER.

AUTOMOBILE ACK.

APPLlcATIoN HLED FEB. 18. 1915.

Ll'm. Paten-1611. 001. 26, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

A. PETELER.

AUTOMOBILE JACK.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 18. |915.

1,158,272. Patented 001.. 26, 1915.

4 SHEETS- E?.

L A. PETELER.

AUTOMOBILE JACK.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. I8, i915.

Patented Oct. 26, 1915,

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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ADOLPH PETELER, F YONKERS, NEW YORK.

AUTOMOBILE-JACK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Uct. 26, H5.

Application filed February 18, 1915. Serial No. 8,974.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ADoLPi-I Pn'rnLnR, a citizen of the United States, residing at 4:52 Van Cortlandt Park avenue, Yonkers, county of lVestchester, and Sta-te of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automobile-Jacks, fully described and represented in the following specifica-tion and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

rlhis invention relates to a lifting jack in which the lifter-bar is operated by a liftingpawl and held, when lifted, by an automatic detent, and the object of the 1'nvention is to furnish an improved construction whereby its parts may be economically formed by stamping from sheet-metal, and means may be provided for not only raising the head of the jack step by step, but of lowering it step by step, and to provide means for entirely clearing or releasing the pawl and detent from the lifter-bar so Lh at i it may be moved freely up and down by hand. y

The casing is made in two similar halves of sheet-metal with a chamber in the lower part for the operative mechanism, and a' guide having parallel sides in the upper part, the lifter-bar being made with parallel .I

ing close to the side or sides of the rack-bar, l

so that i'etracting dogs may move longitudinally between the rack-bar and those parts,

. to retract one or both of them from the rack,

as may be required to render one or both inoperative.

The dogs are both mounted upon springsupports, so as to move longitudinally un-v der pressure conveyed to them by the recip-` rocating pawl, or by a latch which locks one of them in an inoperative position. This Y serves, owing to an engagement of the two dogs, to render them both inoperative when desired.

The drawings show the invention applied to lifter-bars having either one or two racks.

The invention will be understood by reference to the annexed drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the jack with the Vnearer half of the casing removed;

Fig. 1a sho-ws the position of vthe pawl and,

detent before lowering the lifter bar; Figs. lb to lG show various positions of the pawl and deteiit; Fig. 2 is a plan of the parts below the line 2-2 in Fig. l with the pawl, detent, and casing in section on line 3-3 in Fig. l; Fig. 3 shows the ci'ank end of the hand-lever socket for operating the pawl; Fig. 4c is an edge view of the jack with the casing bi'okeii away below the line i-fl in said figure, and the detent and its pivotbearings omitted, to display the connections of the dogs more clearly; Fig. 5 is an edge view of the detent with its connections to the base; Fig. 6 is an edge view of the jack upon a smaller scale than Fig. et; and Fig. 7 is a plan of the casing above line 2 2 in Fig. l with the lifter-bar in section. Figs. 8, 9 and l0 show a jack with pawl and lifter applied to the same rack. Fig. 8 is an elevation of such jack with the nearer side of the casing omitted; Fig. 9 is an edge view of the same to the guide in the upper part, the nearer half of the casing being omitted; and Fig. l0 is a plan of such jack with the lifter-bar in section.

a., a, designate the opposite halves of the casing, which are connected by lugs and rivets a2 and by tenons a3 extended through inortises in a foot-piece b. The casing has a chamber c in the bottom and hexagonal guide CZ in the top. The lifter-bar E is of hexagonal shape with two opposite corners c and intermediate flat sides, each having rack-teeth e. A base f is secured to the foot-piece by rivets f. The foot-piece is formed with a flat top and depending flanges between which is tightly litted a wooden block b2 to give it rigidity, and holes are formed through the base, the footpieee and the wooden block to extend the downward movement of the lifter-bar as much as possible.

The base f has at opposite sides pivotbearings g for a detent la., and a bearing z' for the hand lever-socket g which aetuates the pawl k by a crank-pin .7'.

The casing incloses all the workingvparts -of the jack and has an aperture in one side near the bottom through which the socket g extends to the bearing z' and the pawl 7c.

The pawl and detent lie quite close to the opposite sides of the lifter-bar E, leaving sufieient space for the Shanks Z and Z of the dogs n and n, which operate to retract or release the .detent and awl respectively.v

The lower ends of t e Shanks Z and Z are p, and neither of the dogs can produce its "thus heid inoperative, the pawl can be opprovided respectively with bent ears 0 and o fitted to studs p and 29, upon which springs s and s are fitted to push the dogs normally upward from the base. Y

rlhe shanks are provided at their upper ends with cheeks m and m respectively, adapted, as shown in Fig. 2, to snugly fit the angular sides of the lifter-bar and overlapping one another upon the angular corner of the bar, so that a tongue u upon one of the spreaders may engage a longitudinal slot o upon the other spreader.

A screw or stud e" is shown upon one side of the bar E in Figs. l and 2, to prevent the bar Vfrom moving out of the guide (Z.

The rack-teeth e may be made of onequarter inch pitch, and the movement of the tongue u in the slots e is of equal amount, and the stud p has a head' r which permits an upward movement of the dog n of the same amount. A

The stud p has no head, as the upward movement of the dog n is limited by the tongue and slot engagement.

The detent and pawl are connected by a double-armed wire-spring g, the ends of which engage the two members, and the middle of which is formed of several coils which hang loosely and are so Wound as to draw the detent and pawl each toward the rack-bar with suiiicient force to drop freely into the rack-teeth.

The rack-teeth are sloped entirely downward, their lifting surfaces being transverse to the line of the bar E, and the heads of the detent and pawl are both formed with a jaw which fits the notches between the rackteeth, and has on the lower side a sloping surface upon which the dogs n, n may operate by a longitudinal or sliding movement, to push those parts laterally and disengage them from theV rack-teeth.

The springs s and s are made strong enough to overcome the inward tendency of the spring g during such releasing movement; but not strong enough to retract the pawl and detent from the rack-teeth when a load is upon the head F of the jack. (See Fig.` 6).

The dogs are shown in Fig. l locked in an inoperative position by means of a latchlever t which is pivoted inside the middle of the casing and formed to press upon a wing t', which is shown in Fig. t projected from one edge of the shank Z of dog a. The edge of the wing is also lettered t in Fig. l, with the latchslever in contact therewith and holding it down in opposition to the upward pressure of the spring p.

The ltongue u being in the bottom of the slot e upon Vthe dog-cheeks, the dog n is also held downward in opposition to the spring normal retracting effect. The dogs being,

erated continuously to raise the lifter-bar, the detent slipping each time into the succeeding tooth and holding the lifter-bar at the point to which it is raised.

In Figs. 2, 4 and 6, the latch-lever is shown extended through a slot w in the casing, which slot has an ear fw at one side, above and below which the latch-lever can be adjusted, the lever being shown locked below such ear in Fig. (i, the same as in Fig. l.

`When the lever is moved above the ear fw, as indicated by dotted lines t2 in Fig. l, the

dogs are free to move, and the spring p.

forces the shank l and the dog n upwardly thus moving the ear 0 of that shank up to the head 1', and also carrying the tongue u upward the space of one of the rack-teeth, leaving the dog n also free to move upwardly a similar space, or until it contacts with the sloping under surface of the jaw of the detent.

The hand-lever socket is shown in Fig. 1 depressed suiiiciertly to raise the lifter-bar one tooth, so that the detent can engage the opposite tooth; but the lowering of the pawl, by raising the hand-lever, brings it opposite to the next space in the rack, which it would not be able to enter when the dog n is operative, because the dog would stand where it is shown in Fig. l". Then both the dogs are free to operate, the dog n. would be held elastically against the sloping surface upon the detent, and any raising of the lifter-bar would free the detent from its load, and permit the dog a to push it laterally and thus retract it from the rack. lVhen the dogs are unlatched and free to operate, the bar E may be lowered step by step, as a slight lifting of the lifter-bar would remove the load from the detent and permit its dog n to retract it from the rack, as shown in Fig. la.

The dog n would stand in the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 and in full lines in Fig. 1C, thus lying in contact with the inclined surface of the pawl at the commencement of the lowering stroke. The detent being retracted and the pawl lowered, the pawl would be engaged so tightly with the lifter-bar that during the lowering movement the dog n could not retract it, but would be forced downward in opposition to the spring s, carrying the dog n with it, which would permit the detent to reengage the lifter-bar by the succeeding tooth, as shown in Fig. l". -When such tooth rested upon the detent it would free the pawl from the load upon it, and its dog n would then operate to retract the pawl from the rack, by again resuming the position shown in Fig. le. A renewed upward movement of the pawl would then engage it with the tooth above, as in Fig. l, a slight lifting of which would free the deisa ISO

tent from its load and permit its dog n to `When the lifter-bar is to be entirely freed for manual movement, both the pawl and detent may be retracted from their respective racks by unlatching the dogs, and slightly raising the lifter-bar by hand, which relieves both the pawl and detent from any load, and permits their respective dogs to retract them both, which permits the lifter-bar to be raised or lowered by hand.

Figs. lb and lC show the dierent relations of the dogs to the pawl and detent at different stages of the lifting movement with both the pawls unlatched. In such case, the load rests upon the detent, and the dog n is thus prevented from having any effect thereon, as shown in Fig. 1b, where the pawl is shown one tooth lo-wer than in Fig. l, ready to lift the rack-bar.

IF ig. lc shows the pawl and rack-bar lifted one tooth,

l? ig. l and Figs. 1d to le show the movements of the dogs in lowering` the rack-bar step by step.

Fig. la shows the pawl after a slight lifting movement, which frees the detent from the load and permits its dog n to retract it.

Fig. ld shows the pawl in its lower positions, thus forcing its dog downward and also the dog n which permits the detent to engage the rack near the end of the pawls downward movement.

When the vdetent catches the load, the pawl is released from the load and is retracted by its dog n, as shown in Fig. le, which leaves the parts in readiness for another upward movement of the pawl.

rl`hc essential feature of the invention is the provision of the automatically operating dogs moved each by a spring to retract the pawl and detent from the rack-teeth under certain conditions, but capable, owing to their spring supports, of moving downwardly with the pawl when the latter is lowered with a load upon the jack. It is therefore immaterial how the pawl, the detent, and the sliding dogs are arranged in relation to the lifter-bar; and to show a different arrangement, which illustrates the scope of the invention, I'have represented in Figs. 8 and 9 a lifter-bar E formed with rackteeth E2 upon one side only, with a pawl K and detent H both applied to the same rack, one above the other, and the slidingdogs N, N, also fitted to the same side of the bar E to operate respectively upon the pawl and the detent. The shanks L and L of these dogs are supported upon springs S, S', the same as in the construction of Fig. l. rIhe pawl and dog are pressed lightly toward the rack-teeth by springs Q and Q', which yield when the pawl and dog are freed from load, and permit the dogs N, N to retract them when required. The shank L is limited in its upward movement by a head It upon its stud P. llChe dog N has two shanks L which lie upon opposite sides of the rack-bar E', and have lugs O fitted to two studs I). The shank L of the dog N lies on the face of the rack-teeth, and also has two lugs O fitted to the studs I). The shanks have an engagement by means of tongues U bent outwardly from the two Shanks L, and seats V bent to fit beneath the same from opposite edges of the shank L,

such engagement operating the same as the tongue u and slot 'u in the construction of Fig. l.

The construction shown provides for making the parts of sheet-metal, the casing and the foot-piece b being thus made, as well as the pawl, the detent and the retracting dogs, with their shanks.

lThe only guide for the lifter-bar is provided in the top of the casing, and the jaws of the pawl and detent operate upon the rack-teeth close to such guide with a vertical movement that avoids the necessity of any other guide.

The guide is preferably formed with a clearance space adjacent to the teeth, as shown in Fig. 7, so that when the latter become burred by the pressure of the pawl the guide may offer no obstruction to their movement.

The parts may be duplicated very cheaply, while the resulting product is very strong and durable.

' Having thus set forth the nature of the invention what is claimed herein is:

l. In a lifting-jack, the combination, with a toothed lifter-bar, of a lifting-pawl lying near the side of the rack, with a lever connection at its lower end and a sloping surface beneath its j aw, and a dog mounted to vslide between the pawl and the rackteeth, and having a spring under its foot to press it upward, and operating normally upon the sloping surface of the jaw upon the pawl to retract it from the rack.

2. In a lifting jack, the combination, with a toothed lifter-bar, of a detent engaged with the bar, a sliding dog having a springsupport and operating longitudinally to retract the detent from the bar, a lifting-pawl and means for reciprocating the same, a sliding dog having a spring-support and operating normally to retract the pawl from the bar, an engagement between the two dogs and means for locking the dog of the pawl in an inoperative position, and thereby holding both dogs inoperative.

3. In a lifting j ack, the combination, with a lifter-bar having racks upon opposite sides, of a detent engaged with one of the racks, a sliding-dog having a spring-support for normally retracting the detent, a

lifting-pawl engaged with the opposite rack, means for pressing the detent and pawl into the respective racks, a lever-connection for reciprocating the pawl, a dog having a spring-support and operating normally to retract the pawl from the rack, an engagement between the two dogs, and a latch for locking one of the dogs when required, and thus holding both in an inoperative position.

t. In a lifting jack, the combination, with a lifter-bar having racks upon opposite sides, of a detent engaged with one of the racks, a dog having a spring-support for normally retraeting the detent, a liftingpawl engaged with the opposite rack, means for pressing the detent and pawl into the respective racks, a lever-connection for reciprocating the pawl, a pawl-retracting dog having a spring-support with limited lnovement equal to one rack-tooth, an engagement between the two dogs permitting a movement equal to one rack-tooth, whereby lthe pawl-dog is in an inoperative position vwhen at the upward limit of its springniovenient, and then permits the dog of the detent to move upward the additional space of one rack-tooth.

5. In a lifting jaclgthe combination, with a lifter-bar having racks upon opposite sides, of a detent mounted adjacent to one of the racks and having a sloping surface nent the same, means for pressing the detent normally into the rack, a lifting-paw] mounted adjacent to the opposite rack, a lever for reciprocating the lifting-pawl, and a sliding dog movable between the lifterbai and the detent, and having a spring adapted to force the dog longitudinally against the sloping surface of said detent to retract the same from the rack when the bar is lifted.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for 6. In a lifting ack, the combination, with a lifter-bar having racks upon opposite sides, of a detent mounted adjacent to one of the racks and having a sloping surface next the same, a sliding dog movable bctween the lifter-bar and the detent and having a spring adapted to force it longitudi nally against the sloping surface of said detent, a lifting-pawl mounted adjacent to the opposite rack, a lever for reciprocating the pawl, a dog for the pawl movable between the lifter-bar and the lifting-pawl and having a movable engagement with the dog of the detent, and a spring adapted to force such dog longitudinally as set forth, the lifting-pawl operating when lowered under a load to press down its own dog and, by engagement with the other dog of the detent, to prevent the latter from retracting the detent.

7. A lifting jack having a base, pivotbearings upon the base at opposite sides of the center, a casing extended upward from the base with a lifter-bar having racks upon opposite sides movable therein between the two bearings, a detent pivoted upon one of the bearings to engage one of the racks, and a hand-lever socket pivoted upon the opposite bearing and having a lifting-pawl jointed thereto, and the pawl and detent being formed of sheet-metal with a body adjacent to the rack-bar and ianges extended backwardly therefrom, forming journals for their pivots.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ADOLPH PETELER.

Witnesses:

L. LEE, THOMAS S. CRANE.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

